Feature Friday: Underrated Books

It’s Friday, Friday, we have Feature Friday on Fridays, even though it’s somehow the first time I’ve actually, made one… Friday, Friday, actually making a blogpost on Friday, everybody’s looking forward to the book stuff!

(That was supposed to be sung in your head to the tune of Friday… it was a parody… not just a horrifically punctuated run-on sentence)

Anywho… Hello! Happy Friday, or – congrats, you’ve made it. As my friend Rebooka Black (see what I did there?) told you, this is Feature Friday! I honestly have no idea why I’ve never actually posted one of these before. I’m a mess. Sorry.

Today’s wonderful topic for Feature Friday is underrated stand-alone books. I love talking about books with people but that’s kind of hard to do when nobody else has read this amazing books. I figured it was time to change that, so I’ve taken it upon myself to introduce you to these great titles from three different age classifications.

Middle GradeYoung AdultAdult

1. The Candymakers by Wendy Mass: I am aware that Wendy Mass is an incredibly well-known and bestselling author and I’m sure many people have read this book. However, to me this book is incredibly underrated because it’s not really considered her best book when, in my mind, it is without a doubt her best piece of writing and arguably one of the best middle grade stand-alone books ever written. This book is about 450 pages and I read it when I was eleven in one sitting. The story is a mystery, told four times from different perspectives. With each perspective more pieces of the mystery are revealed until your mind is completely blown to bits in one last section. It’s crazy. It’s amazing. It still remains one of my favorite books of all time.

2. Something Real by Heather Demetrios Again, this may be a book that you’ve heard of or read, but I don’t think it gets nearly enough recognition. This is one of my favorite love stories in a YA book of all time, and no book character has ever made me angrier than the mom of the main character in this book. While you’re reading this book, it will be in complete control of your emotions. This story follows a girl who is the former star of a reality TV show (The Baker’s Dozen, following around her gigantic family) but since the show’s cancellation she has returned to living a normal life under a different name. That is until her mom signs a deal to start the show again out of the blue and everything gets messed up and crazy and amazing. It really makes you question everything we watch on TV and holy cow where can I get myself a Patrick? Let me just put this in perspective for you: It has no 1 or 2 star ratings on Amazon, and only 2% of reviewers gave this book a 3 star. It’s good. Read it.

3. House Rules by Jodi Picoult I know, I know. Jodi Picoult is definitely not an underrated author and considering how successful she is you can’t really say that any of her books are underrated if they sell millions of copies. Butthis book deserves even more hype. The story follows a boy named Jacob who has Asperger’s Syndrome. He’s incredibly passionate about solving crimes, and likes to show up on real-life crime scenes to try to solve them before the police can. That is… until he becomes a suspect of one of the murders. Effects of his Asperger’s, like avoiding eye contact and giving answers that only answer exactly what you ask, start to be interpreted as signs of guilt. The biggest and most amazing thing about this book is that it’s impossible for even the reader to know if he actually committed murder, and trust me, the ending will absolutely shock you. Friends: this is my favorite stand-alone of all time. Ever. *drops mic*

Hey, you’ve made it to the end of the post! What’s a book you think is underrated? What did you think of these choices? Have you read them and, if you have, do you agree that they’re underrated? Or do you hate them with a fiery passion and now completely question my recommendation credibility? I sure hope it’s not the latter, but I’d love to hear any and all of your thoughts in the comments.

I think this was a really good idea for a blog post! My most underrated book would have to be “An Equal Music” by Vikram Seth (you may have heard me banging on about it at various points on my blog!) It’s an amazing book but I think because his novel “A Suitable Boy” is just so flippin’ famous his other stuff gets forgotten a little bit.

Thank you! I haven’t read An Equal Music but I’ll make sure to check it out in the future. It’s always frustrating to find a book that you know is so good but also know that it’s very under appreciated. Thanks for sharing your recommendation! 🙂